


Action and Reaction

by Persiflage



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Alternate Ending, Crying, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s02e01 Brother, F/M, First Kiss, Flash Fic, Michael is canonically bossy, More honoured in the breach than in the observance, Starfleet regulations concerning fraternisation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-06 07:27:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18383762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persiflage/pseuds/Persiflage
Summary: Episode tag/alternate ending for the S2 premiere: Michael loses her shit a bit with the Captain. Unsurprisingly he finds it sexy.





	Action and Reaction

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Alethia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alethia/gifts).



> I started re-watching S2 of Disco from the beginning for reasons unrelated to fic, and a couple of days after I watched 'Brother' again, the Bitch Muse threw this at my head. *sigh*
> 
> For Alethia, who writes the hottest Michael/Pike fics and got me into this ship. Sorry there's no actual porn. :(

When Captain Pike walks into sickbay he can't help smiling a little at the sight of Commander Burnham – Michael – sitting propped up with a Padd in her hands, busy reading and making notations. As he starts towards her bed, however, Dr Pollard puts a hand on his arm and the look on her face is enough to make him worry that Michael's in a worse state than he'd assumed. 

"Doctor?" he asks, low-voiced.

"One moment please, Captain," she says, and he frowns but waits while she taps at something on her own Padd. "Go ahead," she says, then gestures a little impatiently when he doesn't immediately move.

He closes in on Michael's bed, then turns to look over his shoulder when light sparkles behind him. There is a barely visible barrier around the bed, and he frowns before turning back towards Michael, who is giving him what he can only think of as The Look – the one his mother used to bestow on him when he was a child and had done something wrong. 

"How are you, Commander?" he ventures cautiously. 

"I'm fine, thank you Captain."

There's something in her tone of voice that goes with The Look. And it suddenly occurs to him that she's angry, but he's not sure why.

"How are you?" She asks the question quietly, but there's an edge still to her voice. 

"I'm fine, thanks to you. I'm grateful for the save."

"Good," she says with quiet emphasis. "Now would you mind telling me, Captain, what the hell was that order you gave me back there?" Her voice is still relatively quiet, but there's a whiplash edge to it that makes her sound like a Captain berating a junior officer. 

He's so astonished and so embarrassingly aroused by her tone that he finds himself too tongue-tied to respond immediately, and she snaps out a "Well?" before he can gather his thoughts to answer. 

"We'd already lost one officer," he says, repeating his earlier argument. 

"And I’d already told you that we don't leave people behind," Michael snaps. "And just how well do you imagine Admiral Cornwell would have taken it, had I reported back that not only had I lost one of the Enterprise's Science Officers, but also her highly decorated and highly respected Captain on my mission?" She's positively glaring at him now and he has to bite his tongue to prevent himself from saying anything inappropriate. 

"In case you have forgotten, Captain Pike, I have already been tried and imprisoned once for betraying my Captain, and I don't care to repeat the experience."

She stares at him, clearly not about to calm down any time soon. 

He moves closer to the head of the bed, then reaches down to clasp her right hand in his. "I'm sorry, Michael," he says quietly. "I'll admit that I didn't consider that aspect of the situation when I gave you that order."

She doesn't look very mollified by his words, he notices, not that he can entirely blame her.

“Don’t you ever give me another order like that,” she says, still sharp.

“I can’t promise I won’t,” he says. “But I’ll try not to.”

She squeezes his fingers almost painfully tightly. “Don’t ever give me another order like that, again,” she repeats.

He swallows, then nods. “I promise.”

“Good.” She lets go of his hand, then covers her face with it and it takes him a moment to realise she’s weeping quite silently.

“Michael,” he says, stricken, then leans towards her and wraps his arms around her shoulders. “It’s okay, Michael. It’s okay.” 

She clings to him, her left hand wrapped around his bicep, her right arm around his torso. Several minutes pass and since her sobs are mostly silent he can’t tell whether or not she’s still crying, but he assumes she is from the way she continues to hang on to him. In some ways it feels like more of a death grip than when she’d caught him above that asteroid, and he wonders if this is a delayed reaction to that experience, or if there’s something else entirely going on. He brings to mind what he knows of her with regard to her trial and imprisonment, and what he knows of her previous service, and he thinks he might understand why she’s broken down, but he knows he won’t be certain unless he can get her to talk to him.

Before he can start asking questions, she lets go of him, pulling away quickly, and he lets her. Then he sits in the chair beside her bed, takes her right hand in both of his, and asks, “Do you want to talk to me about this?”

She rubs at her eyes with the back of her free hand, swallows, then looks at him before hastily looking away again. He thinks she looks ashamed and reminds himself that she was raised by Vulcans, and probably actively dislikes emotional displays.

He squeezes her hand gently. “Michael.”

“I’m sorry, Captain,” she says, her voice husky and full of tears, still. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Nonsense,” he says briskly. “It was a perfectly normal, Human reaction to the stress you experienced today.” 

She looks at him and he call tell she heard his slight emphasis on ‘Human’. “Nevertheless –”

He shakes her hand lightly. “Nevertheless nothing. Michael, I am never going to think less of you for not always being the stoic Vulcan. You are Human, and venting your emotions is normal and expected. Just, maybe, don’t berate me like that again.”

He says it lightly, but she looks utterly horrified and pulls her hand free to cover her face a second time, using both hands. 

“I can’t believe I did that,” she says, her voice somewhat muffled by her hands. “That was just so inappropriate and inexcusable, and –”

“Sexy,” he says, the word slipping out before he can stop himself.

She drops her hands to stare at him in astonishment. “ _Sexy_ ,” she repeats.

He feels himself blushing, which elicits a raised eyebrow, twin to the one her foster brother has so often bestowed on him. He swallows, then repeats, “ _Sexy_.”

She shakes her head. “I can’t believe you said that.”

He chuckles briefly. “To be honest, Michael, I can’t quite believe I said it, either. I didn’t actually mean to, it just sort of slipped out.”

“Really?” She’s suddenly gone from incredulous to dry, and he just wants to kiss her. He wants to press her down onto the bed and kiss her senseless, and he has to swallow hard before he can speak, but the way she’s looking at him makes him wonder if she’s developed telepathy. Then he worries he said that stuff aloud.

“You’re gorgeous when you’re righteously angry,” he says. “And I’m aware that I shouldn’t be saying such things to you.”

“Does the Starfleet protocol on fraternisation still apply if we’re only temporarily in the same chain of command?”

He looks at her speculatively. “Are you asking what I think you’re asking?”

“Depends what you think I’m asking.” Her tone is even, but the look she’s giving him seems – inviting, he thinks.

“Are you asking if it’s alright for us to have an intimate relationship, given that my command of _Discovery_ is short term?”

“Actually, I was asking if it’s okay for me to kiss you.”

He smiles. “I think it would be very okay,” he says. He cups her cheek in his hand, then leans in and presses his mouth against hers. She hums approvingly, and the sound goes straight to his cock, which he finds vaguely embarrassing. Then she opens her mouth against his and he feels her tongue dart out to drag along the seam of his lips, and he grows even harder.

“More.” She murmurs the word against his lips, and he complies, kissing her thoroughly and with an ardent fervour that makes his body tingle.

“God, Michael,” he gasps, pulling back urgently. “When can you get out of here?”

“Approximately one hour.”

He nods. “Report to my quarters once you get out of here and we’ll discuss this further.”

There’s a gleam in her eyes now, and it makes him smile to have put it there.

“Yes sir.”

He gets to his feet, then he dips his head to briefly press his lips to hers. Then he makes himself stand straight. He presses the heel of his hand against his threatening erection, and she licks her lips, then looks up at him from under her lashes, and he swallows hard.

“Stop looking at me,” he grates out.

She chuckles, but closes her eyes, and he wills his cock to quiescence. “Can I look yet?” she asks after less than a minute, her tone teasing.

“No,” he says sternly. He takes deep breaths, slow inhale, slow exhale, slow inhale, slow exhale. Her lips are quirked into a smile and it occurs to him that she knows exactly what he’s doing.

“How do I get rid of this barrier?” he asks after a few more minutes.

“Computer, end privacy protocol,” Michael says, and the barrier shimmers out of sight.

“I’ll see you later, Commander,” he says, his tone neutral now.

She flashes a brief glance at his crotch before gazing up at him. “Yes sir.”

He nods, and she nods back, then he turns and walks out, heading straight for his quarters because he’s not going to be able to function until after he’s seen her again. He’ll busy himself working through the crew’s personnel files until then, he decides. 

When his door chimes an hour later, he calls “Come”, then stands up as Michael walks in, looking crisp in her uniform, but with a sparkle in her eyes that wasn’t there before.

“You wanted to see me, Captain?” she asks, coming to a stop a few feet inside his door, her hands clasping behind her back.

He gets to his feet and crosses the room towards her. “Yes I did, Commander.” He reaches past her shoulder and taps at the keypad behind her. He steps back a little. “I’ve engaged the privacy protocol,” he tells her. “So no need to fear interruption.”

“Good,” she murmurs, then she steps into his personal space and drapes her arms over his shoulders. “What do you want to do with me, Captain?” she asks.

“So many things,” he says, his voice low and knowing now. 

“Show me,” she commands, and he feels his cock stirring into life again.

“Yes ma’am.” He ducks his head and takes her mouth in a hot, searing kiss, and she moans, pressing her body firmly against his.

This, he decides, is going to be quite a ride.

_*** Transmission Ends ***_


End file.
